01.31.2012. EAST LONGMEADOW- Elizabeth Warren speaks with Tim O'Brien, Sr. Manager of Lenox Tool in East Longmeadow, during a campaign stop and tour of the factory in East Longmeadow. (File Photo by Robert Rizzuto)

The latest wave in the ocean of controversy over Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's heritage claims involves a group of Cherokees who have launched a website and Facebook group calling the Harvard Law School professor's claims of Native American lineage "harmful and offensive."

For several weeks, Warren, who is fighting for the Democratic nod to take on U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., in November, has faced questions about whether she is actually Cherokee as she claimed she learned through family lore and whether she used her heritage to boost herself as an affirmative action hire.

Although Warren has repeatedly denied such claims, and the universities that previously hired her released statements saying they weren't aware of such heritage claims or that they played no part in her hiring, the specter of such allegations has lingered.

Twila Barnes, an amateur Cherokee genealogist in Missouri who has been an outspoken critic of Warren's Native American claims, said the new website aims to encourage the Harvard Law School professor to denounce her previous claims of Cherokee ancestry.

"We would like Elizabeth Warren to acknowledge that her family story isn't true," Barnes told MassLive.com. "I believe she does have a family story, as a lot of people do, but after an investigation and research, it turns out that the story isn't true. It is dangerous for someone in her position, who might become a U.S. Senator, to be falsely claiming to be Cherokee when she can't prove it."

For almost a decade in the 1980s and '90s, Warren listed her Native American ancestry in a directory of law professors compiled by the Association of American Law Schools, a move she said was to meet people "who are like I am," referring to the stories of Native American ancestry which were passed down by family members.

Warren said that when the directory proved fruitless as far as networking with other Native Americans, she stopped checking that box on the directory listing.

The idea of checking that box is something that doesn't sit well with Barnes and others in her group.

The "Pow Wow Chow" cookbook contributed to by Elizabeth Warren and family members in 1984 is still on sale for $19.95 by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum of Muskogee, Oklahoma. (Photo courtesy of fivetribes.org)

"If you look white and grew up white, you probably didn't deal with the same issues true minorities do and you shouldn't be calling yourself a minority," Barnes said. "I wouldn't consider what she did malicious at the time, but I think she was definitely trying to take advantage of the system."

On the website, which is called "Cherokees Demand truth from Elizabeth Warren," Barnes documents what she says is Warren's genealogy dating back to the early 1800s, where all ancestors were self-identified as "white" on government documents.

"We've tracked my own family back to the late 1700s with pretty good documentation," Barnes said. "But we've only been to 1822-24 with Elizabeth Warren. We are still looking for more documentation to go further back and we won't stop until there is nothing left to find."

Recent polls have indicated that many voters in the Bay State don't believe the Native American controversy is considered to be an important one compared to the economy and other issues.

And while the Facebook group associated with Barnes' new website saw its membership double by mid-day Wednesday to more than 360 members, several Native Americans have come out in support of Warren.

Tom "Eagle Rising" Libby, chief of the Greater Lowell Indian Cultural Association, recently told the Lowell Sun that although he is a Republican who plans to vote for Brown, he feels people assume Warren isn't a Native American because of her looks.

"When people look at me and see freckles, they think I'm Irish," Libby told the Lowell Sun. "One of the things I stress is to ignore the stereotypes. When you hear Indian, the first
thing you think of is big nose and dark, long hair. Well, that's not always the case."

In a statement following the launch of Barnes' new website, Warren's press secretary Alethea Harney said it is time to move past the issue.

"Over the past month Elizabeth has answered countless questions openly while the people who recruited her have made it clear it was because of her extraordinary skill as a teacher and a groundbreaking scholar. She is proud of her family and her heritage, and it is something that her family talked about often when she was growing up," Harney said. "The fact that Elizabeth noted her heritage in a professional publication has been made public and addressed by Elizabeth on multiple occasions. It’s time to focus on the important issues facing Massachusetts. There are real issues middle class families are dealing with every day and that’s where Elizabeth is focused."